Congratulations on your choice to become a member of the Houston Association of REALTORS®. Join HAR online and become a member of the largest individual membership trade association in Houston and the second largest local real estate trade association in the nation with more than 34,000 Houston Real Estate Brokers, Houston Real Estate Agents, Houston Realtors and Houston Service Providers.

Whether you are beginning an exciting career in real estate or have years of experience under your belt, now is the time to make your business the best it can be. At HAR, we believe one of the best ways to do this is through your HAR membership. We encourage you to take full advantage of the tools and products that HAR has to offer. They have been designed especially with you and your professional success in mind. Utilize these tools to make your business grow!
About the benefits of becoming a member of HAR. read more

Key Benefits

Multiple Listing Service

This is HAR's state-of-the-art, Web-based MLS system created specifically to meet your needs. This tool enables you to access more than 42,000 properties online, archived information on the thousands of properties sold in the past six years and the current public records information for Harris and surrounding counties.

Mobile

Texas real estate professionals (HARMLS subscribers) have real-time access to agent-only MLS information. We have developed a suite of mobile apps that put the power of HAR.com in the palm of your hand. Our Android, iOS and Windows Phone applications have been downloaded by tens of thousands of real estate professionals throughout the state. The HAR.com technology team is constantly working to not only perfect our current mobile tools but develop additional apps to help you grow your business even further. Some of the features of the HAR.com app include:

Archives - Direct access to MLS, view archive and agent full report

Tax - Access to tax information (including values and tax rates)

Showing - Access showing information and have the ability to make appointments online

CMA - Instantly create a CMA for your clients

Forms - Real estate legal forms at your fingertips

Calculators - Powerful financial calculators

IDX - Agent branded information is now included when you share listings!

Document-Sharing - Sharing documents is now amazingly simple. Just click the link to view, share and more!

Tools – Check your leads and listings as well as the company's listing inventory

HAR.com

The HAR web site is drawing an ever-increasing audience of Houston homebuyers. Consumers are generating an average more than 58 million page-views per month on the site to find information about you and your listings. Daily visitor sessions average 80,000 with potential homebuyers spending an average of 5 minutes reviewing your listings and personal REALTOR® web sites.

To promote our site, we have incorporated billboards, ads in the Houston Chronicle, regular press releases and guest columns into our marketing plan. All Realtor listings are also advertised to the public at no cost to members on a growing number of licensee sites. read more

Promoting the Value of Using a REALTOR®

The public relations and promotional resources of HAR are impressive. Several times each month, HAR publishes articles, press releases and holds photo opportunities for its volunteer leadership. This PR effort has the sole focus of making consumers aware of the value that Realtors bring to a transaction. The association Web sites at HAR.com and Commercialgateway.com are a principal venue for this promotion. These Web sites afford us a unique opportunity to showcase Realtors in conjunction with their listings.

Protecting REALTORS® in Political and Governmental Affairs

Every single legislative session, lawmakers propose a tax on your hard-earned commissions. In other states, such policies have been passed, and real estate professionals forfeit a significant amount of their income to Uncle Sam. HAR represents you with a strong, powerful political voice at the local, state and national level and has consistently defeated such onerous proposals as a tax on commissions. To see HAR's latest governmental affairs projects. read more

Communication

The HAR Communications Department helps keep you informed about all the latest Association and industry news through a variety of products. Every week, members receive the Five Minute REALTOR® e-newsletter, which consists of more time-sensitive or late-breaking material. Each month, the department produces both online and print versions of HAR's Houston REALTOR® magazine, containing articles and advice to assist REALTORS® with their business. The department also produces a PowerPoint presentation distributed each Monday called The Edge, with constantly changing content that sales managers and brokers may incorporate in their weekly sales meetings. Additionally, HAR engages in an extensive, award-winning public relations, marketing and advertising campaign to educate consumers about the value that using the services of a REALTOR® brings to the transaction. The HAR Communications Department is also the go-to source for local, regional and national media regarding all matters real estate.

Events

HAR provides ample opportunities for its members to come together and learn, meet contemporaries with similar business interests and reconnect with longtime friends. Several of HAR's special events include the HAR ENGAGE Conference and REALTOR® Celebration. HAR ENGAGE is in the fall and is an all-day conference with industry experts sharing their inside knowledge with you. REALTOR® Celebration is a celebration about the HAR member, providing a chance to congratulate the incoming leadership of HAR, honor two industry award recipients and enjoy a holiday reception. This event is held in early December.

Commercial Gateway

One of Commercial Gateway's most prominent features is the Commercial Information Exchange (CIE) that is available online at www.commercialgateway.com. This facility makes participating firms more profitable by providing a shared information infrastructure that eliminates the wasteful duplication of effort between member firms. The CIE also identifies and promotes a set of “Best Practices” in the marketing of properties and has greatly reduced the wasteful and inefficient practice of broadcast faxes and spam e-mails. The CIE also is an excellent way for commercial brokers to monitor market conditions. Also, HAR will soon make a greater investment in research by hiring another research assistant and plans to include aerial photographic images on CommericalGateway.com soon.